Most Famous American Scientists & Academics

50 American Scientists & Academics in view out of 1,757

Science 1,757
United States 23,678
Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison American Inventor 1847 – 1931
#118
Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong American Astronaut 1930 – 2012
#227
Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman American Physicist 1918 – 1988
#319
LP
Linus Pauling American Chemist 1901 – 1994
#934
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin American Astronaut Born 1930
#1,147
John Forbes Nash Jr.
John Forbes Nash Jr. American Mathematician 1928 – 2015
#1,235
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar American Mathematician 1910 – 1995
#1,392
Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman American Economist Born 1953
#1,483
B. F. Skinner
B. F. Skinner American Psychologist 1904 – 1990
#1,532
Claude Shannon
Claude Shannon American Mathematician 1916 – 2001
#1,599
Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson American Biologist 1907 – 1964
#1,808
Alan Shepard
Alan Shepard American Astronaut 1923 – 1998
#1,882
Joseph Schumpeter
Joseph Schumpeter American Economist 1883 – 1950
#2,139
Talcott Parsons
Talcott Parsons American Sociologist 1902 – 1979
#2,357
Steve Wozniak
Steve Wozniak American Inventor Born 1950
#2,563
Edwin Hubble
Edwin Hubble American Astronomer 1889 – 1953
#2,855
Ted Kaczynski
Ted Kaczynski American Mathematician Born 1942
#2,928
Franz Boas
Franz Boas American Anthropologist 1858 – 1942
#2,940
Norbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener American Mathematician 1894 – 1964
#2,962
JB
John B. Watson American Psychologist 1878 – 1958
#3,169
Kip Thorne
Kip Thorne American Physicist Born 1940
#3,214
Har Gobind Khorana
Har Gobind Khorana American Geneticist 1922 – 2011
#3,454
Robert Andrews Millikan
Robert Andrews Millikan American Physicist 1868 – 1953
#3,510
John James Audubon
John James Audubon American Botanist 1785 – 1851
#4,024
VB
Vannevar Bush American Engineer 1890 – 1974
#4,235
Robert Fulton
Robert Fulton American Engineer 1765 – 1815
#4,298
JB
John Bardeen American Physicist 1908 – 1991
#4,346
Norman Borlaug
Norman Borlaug American Biologist 1914 – 2009
#4,406
Glenn T. Seaborg
Glenn T. Seaborg American Chemist 1912 – 1999
#4,425
Gary Becker
Gary Becker American Economist 1930 – 2014
#4,634
DR
Dennis Ritchie American Computer Scientist 1941 – 2011
#4,639
Lawrence Lessig
Lawrence Lessig American Academic Born 1961
#4,728
Edward Thorndike
Edward Thorndike American Psychologist 1874 – 1949
#4,882
Edgar Cayce
Edgar Cayce American Research 1877 – 1945
#5,095
W. Edwards Deming
W. Edwards Deming American Statistician 1900 – 1993
#5,220
Thorstein Veblen
Thorstein Veblen American Economist 1857 – 1929
#5,252
Murray Gell-Mann
Murray Gell-Mann American Physicist 1929 – 2019
#5,292
Albert A. Michelson
Albert A. Michelson American Physicist 1852 – 1931
#5,540
Clara Barton
Clara Barton American Nurse 1821 – 1912
#5,579
Terence McKenna
Terence McKenna American Botanist 1946 – 2000
#5,813
Edgar Mitchell
Edgar Mitchell American Astronaut 1930 – 2016
#5,994
Louis Agassiz
Louis Agassiz American Geologist 1807 – 1873
#6,433
Irving Fisher
Irving Fisher American Economist 1867 – 1947
#6,555
George Westinghouse
George Westinghouse American Engineer 1846 – 1914
#6,815
Lewis H. Morgan
Lewis H. Morgan American Anthropologist 1818 – 1881
#6,880
John Harvey Kellogg
John Harvey Kellogg American Physician 1852 – 1943
#6,978
Gordon Allport
Gordon Allport American Research 1897 – 1967
#7,049
Michael Porter
Michael Porter American Economist Born 1947
#7,131
George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver American Botanist 1864 – 1943
#7,160
Ernest Lawrence
Ernest Lawrence American Physicist 1901 – 1958
#7,476

By the numbers

Inside the United States Scientists & Academics

1,757 notable people in this slice of the dataset.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous the united states scientists & academics born in each.

Notable Births by Decade

Notable births among the United States Scientists & Academics peaked in the 1900s with 188 people.

What the United States Scientists & Academics Are Known For

Click any row to drill into that filter.

Botanist are the United States Scientists & Academics's biggest group — 7% of all notables (127).

The United States Scientists & Academics over-index on astronaut — 39.8× the global rate.

  1. Botanist127
  2. Physician120
  3. Engineer116
  4. Physicist114
  5. Mathematician111
  6. Chemist100
  7. Academic93
  8. Inventor89
  1. Astronaut3239.8×
  2. Educator5133.6×
  3. Biochemist3032.2×
  4. Psychologist6132.2×
  5. Inventor8926.9×
  6. Computer Scientist1826.1×
  7. Zoologist5525.9×
  8. Sociologist4121.1×

City Hot Spots

Cities that over-produce the United States Scientists & Academics compared to the world average — multiplier shows how much more.